The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North AmericaHolland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Science
The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America
Holland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Butterflies -- North America
_Butterfly._--This very common and well-known little insect scarcely
needs to be described. The upper side is bright fulvous, with heavy
black borders; all the other dark markings are slight. The wings on the
under side are paler, with the dark markings of the upper side showing
through, and there are additional markings of brown on the hind wings.
Expanse, ♂, 1.25 inch; ♀, 1.65 inch.
_Early Stages._--The early stages of this insect have been worked out
with the most extreme care by Mr. Edwards, and the reader who is curious
to know about them should consult "The Butterflies of North America."
Dr. Scudder also has minutely and laboriously described the early stages
in "The Butterflies of New England." The egg is light greenish-yellow.
The caterpillar, which feeds upon various species of aster and allied
_Compositæ_, is dark brown after the third moult, its back dotted with
yellow, adorned with short, black, bristly spines, which are yellow at
the base. The chrysalis is grayish-white, mottled with dark spots and
lines.
This species is one of many dimorphic species, the winter form _marcia_,
which emerges in spring, having the under side brighter, and the light
markings more conspicuous on that side than in the summer form, which
has been called _morpheus_. Concerning all of this, and the way in which
cold affects the color of butterflies, the reader will do well to
consult the splendid pages of Edwards and of Scudder.
The pretty little Pearl Crescent ranges from southern Labrador to
Florida; in fact, all over North America north of Texas and south of the
region of Hudson Bay, except the Pacific coast of California.
(6) =Phyciodes batesi=, Reakirt, Plate XVII, Fig. 35, ♂; Fig. 36, ♀,
_under side_ (Bates' Crescent-spot).
_Butterfly_, ♂.--On the upper side much like _P. tharos_, with the black
markings very heavy. The under side of the hind wings is uniformly pale
fulvous or yellow, with a row of faint submarginal brown spots.
♀.--Like the male. Expanse, ♂, 1.25 inch; ♀, 1.50-1.65 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This species ranges from New York to Virginia, and westward to Ohio.
(7) =Phyciodes pratensis=, Behr, Plate XVII, Fig. 37, ♂; Fig. 38, ♀,
_under side_ (The Meadow Crescent-spot).
_Butterfly_, ♂.--The butterfly resembles the preceding species on the
upper side, but the ground-color is much paler and the black markings
are not so heavy. The under side of the wings is pale fulvous, spotted
with yellow.
♀.--The female has the black markings of the upper side heavier than the
male, and all the spots pale yellow. The markings on the under side are
heavier than in the male sex. Expanse, ♂, 1.15 inch; ♀, 1.40 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The range of this species is the Pacific coast from Oregon to Arizona.
(8) =Phyciodes orseis=, Edwards, Plate XVII, Fig. 31, ♂ (Orseis).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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